Lady Raiders Win Season Opener

By Jay Langley - Special to KLBK.com (Lubbock,TX) - Two women who collectively played zero minutes last season, led the Lady Raiders tonight to a 66-58 win against the University of Texas-San Antonio in the season opener. With Alesha Robertson sick and only scoring six points and Darrice Griffin out for two to three weeks after knee surgery, freshman Jordan Murphree paced Tech with 17 points on 6-14 from the floor. "She (Robertson) wasnt in shoot around today so we all knew that we had to pick it up," Murphree said. UTSA coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair said Murphrees play was a key component of the Lady Raider victory. "What an awesome player," she said of Murphree. "What a great career shes going to have. We just couldnt stop her in transition. You definitely would not think shes a freshman when shes out on the floor." Guard Chesley Dabbs added 15 points for the Lady Raiders in the victory. Dabbs missed the entire 2005-2006 season after surgery on her left knee. "Its good just to be back," Dabbs said. "Being gone a whole year and sitting on the bench was pretty sad for me." Both teams came out sloppy in the first game of their respective seasons with the score stuck on 9-7 from 13:20 to 9:35 of the first half. Tech used a 10-2 run to close the first half with a 28-21 lead. In the second half Tech extended its lead to 56-36 with 8:14 remaining. But UTSA used a 13-2 run of its own to get back in the game cutting the lead to 58-52 with 3:14 remaining. "Good teams find a way to win," Tech coach Kristy Curry said. "I think there are some glaring areas that we didnt do a very good job with tonight. I think shot selection is one thats very glaring. Maintaining the lead is important. Giving up a 20-point lead is unacceptable. Thirdly we obviously have to have a better post presence so theyve got to play smarter and stay out of foul trouble." Curry, who earned her first victory as Lady Raider head coach, said her teams erratic play can be attributed to a lack of confidence because of last seasons 15-14 outcome. "Theyve got to let the past go," Curry said. "That was a tough year for them and they lack a little bit of confidence. We need to quite talking about that. They need to quite thinking about that. Let it go, todays all that matters." Guard Brooke Baughman was Techs third double-digit scorer with 15 points. "We really probably took some chances on Brooke just because she hasnt scored a whole lot of points," Rippetoe-Blair said. "And that was not real smart on our point obviously." The Lady Raiders next take the court Tuesday at Houston. "We can either focus on the negative, but I guarantee our team will be better for tonight," Curry said. "When were 20 games from this one we wont think about it well just see it as a W."